1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Polly. So we've been 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 1: on this podcast for a while and and twice in 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: that time I've gotten a note that just turned out 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: to be from a college friend. So funny, Yeah, who 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: didn't know I was on this podcast? Um, and and 8 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: then went wait, I think that's it is uh And 9 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: So the first time it was my friend Dave. This 10 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: was way back after our episode on the Princess who 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: Swallowed the Glass Piano. I never answered you, Hi, Dave, 12 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: What a jerk you are? Well, it was a comments 13 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: on our blog and we were having that weird blog comment. 14 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: Probably we had a lot of issues with that. Yeah, 15 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: technical difficulties, please stand by forever forever. This time it 16 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: was Hayden, and Hayden was probably the most enthusiastic student 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: of history I knew in college and was way into 18 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: military history. So I jumped at the chance to ask 19 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: him for some military history suggestions, which brings us today's topic, 20 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: which was suggested by Hayden, and it is the Angel 21 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 1: of Mons. Uh So the Battle of Mons was one 22 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: of World War one's earliest battles were really rapidly approaching 23 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: the hundredth anniversary of both the start of World War 24 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: One and of this battle itself, and in the months 25 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: after the battle, these stories started to spread. That is, 26 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: supernatural presence, which was described either as Saint George or 27 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: as some ghostly archers or as angels, had covered the 28 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: British army as it withdrew from battle and had completely 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: prevented the army from being destroyed by the Germans. That 30 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: sounded like way too good of a story to pass up, 31 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: especially since at the time this tale became enormously inspiring 32 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: and heartening to both the troops on the Western Front 33 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: and the civilians at home in Britain. It sits right 34 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: at this intersection of folklore and fiction and patriotism and propaganda, 35 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: and it's a story that persists did for years and 36 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: years after the war was over. So for a little 37 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: bit of background, this is mostly tell you where in 38 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: the timeline we are, because World War One was complicated. Yes, 39 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: because there were many many factors that led up to 40 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: the start of World War One. But the thing that 41 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 1: is often cited as the final tipping point in sort 42 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: of the real catalyst for the actual events to unfold 43 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro 44 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: Hungarian Empire and his wife, and this took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 45 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: on June twenty, nineteen fourteen. Austria suspected that Serbia was 46 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: behind this assassination, so a month later, Austria declared war 47 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: on Serbia, and just a few days after that, Russia, 48 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: which was one of Serbia's allies, announced that it was 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,959 Speaker 1: mobilizing its forces, and a day later Germany declared war 50 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: on Russia. So it was almost like a domino effect 51 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: of one thing happening after another UH. And then Germany 52 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: declared war on France on one day in Belgium the next, 53 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: so Germany got very enthusiastic about its dominoes UH, and 54 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: their next step was to invade the neutral Belgium to 55 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: get better access to targets in France. That day, which 56 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: was August the fourth, Britain declared war on Germany, and 57 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: a whole lot of more declarations of war happened after 58 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: this point over the next few weeks, but at this 59 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: point in the story, Britain France and Germany are really 60 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: what's important. In Germany's plan was to send an enormous 61 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: army through Belgium and into France, cutting off the Allies 62 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: surrounding the city and winning the war in a matter 63 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: of weeks. This movement of German troops through Belgium and 64 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: France led to a series of battles known as the 65 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: Battles of the Frontiers. These all took place along the 66 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: Western Front, and they all started towards the end of 67 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: August nineteen fourteen, very early on in the war. August 68 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: in particular was devastating for the French, who lost about 69 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: twenty seven thousand soldiers in a single day, and the 70 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: Battle of Moms, which took place on August twenty three, 71 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, was part of the Battles of the Frontiers, 72 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: and in this battle the British Expeditionary Forces or the 73 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: b e F joined the fighting and met the German 74 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: army in the field of battle for the first time 75 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: of the war. The BF had a total fighting force 76 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: of about seventy men in continental Europe at this point, 77 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: and about half of them were at the Battle of Mons. 78 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: Sir John French was commander in chief of the b 79 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: e F and the men under his command included both 80 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: infantry and cavalry. This was a highly trained army and 81 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: many of the men had previous combat experience from the 82 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: Boer Wars in South Africa. And just as a side note, 83 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,160 Speaker 1: it's a little awkward to have a guy named French 84 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: and the French in this one episode of an audio podcast. 85 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: But it would sound kind of silly to call him 86 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: Sir John, which I did consider doing for like a second. 87 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: I suggested giving him a wacky nickname. Tracy did not 88 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: go for it. Um, So we're going to do our 89 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: best to make it clear whether we're talking about Commander 90 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:07,720 Speaker 1: in Chief John French or the French. So the original 91 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: plan was for the BF troops to join French forces 92 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: near charle Ros, where fighting from one of the other 93 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: battles of the frontiers was still ongoing, and together the 94 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,600 Speaker 1: French and British would try to break through the German lines. 95 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: The number of factors actually derailed this plan. They included 96 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: a late star for the British troops and a generally 97 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 1: contentious relationship between Commander French and General Charles lan Rozak, 98 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: who was in command of the French Fifth Army at Charlerois. 99 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,799 Speaker 1: So instead the BF and the French fifth Army wound 100 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: up facing the Germans from two different positions, instead of 101 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: united with the French troops in France and the British 102 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: troops in Belgium. In Belgium, the BF objective was too 103 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: slow or stop the advance of the German army, and 104 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: to that end they established a position along the mons 105 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: Conde Canal. And the canal itself was about sixty eat 106 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: wide and in one area it made a sharp curve 107 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: and this formed a jutting promontory of land, which is 108 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: also called a salient, and the northern part of this 109 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: salient was where the German First Army, which outnumbered the 110 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: British two to one, focused its attack As it tried 111 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,679 Speaker 1: to break through the British defenses. The Germans started shelling 112 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: and attacking with infantry at about nine am. General Alexander 113 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: van Koch of Germany didn't really make the greatest use 114 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 1: of his numerical advantage. He was kind of in a hurry. 115 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: He wanted to break through the British lines as fast 116 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: as possible, so he sent large numbers of infantry in 117 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 1: very tight formations to attack the salient, and there were 118 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: a lot of really expert marksmen among the British soldiers. Uh. 119 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: They were so efficient at firing and reloading that the 120 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: German officers allegedly reported back that the British were using 121 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: machine guns. The British marksmen inflicted huge casualties on the 122 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,919 Speaker 1: shoulder to shoulder German troops. The British also had a 123 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: trenching device with them which let them reposition themselves and 124 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: dig a new trench for cover in response to where 125 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: the Germans focused their shelling. And thanks to all of 126 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: this UH, the BF was able to hold the salient 127 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: for six solid hours. But eventually the German assault, as 128 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: they adjusted their approach not to be such easy targets 129 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: for these marksmen, finally started to erode the British defenses. 130 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: On top of that, late in the day, General Lan 131 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: Rozac ordered his men to retreat from Charle, and this 132 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: meant that the British troops were at risk of being 133 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: surrounded by the Germans and cut off with no means 134 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: of escape. So Commander French gave the order to withdraw, 135 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: and they didn't just retreat. The British actually continued to 136 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: fight as they fell back, and in the end they 137 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: did slow the Germans by a day, but that uh 138 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: small success cost them about British troops. For the British, 139 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: this defeat was crushing and demoralizing as a society. The 140 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: British belief their army was the best and mo highly 141 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: trained in the entire world, and yet in their first 142 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: battle in continental Europe and almost a hundred years, they 143 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: had been forced to withdraw after just a few hours. 144 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: News reports in Britain and the following days characterized their 145 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: army as retreating and broken, and characterized the Germans as 146 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: a force that quote could no more be stopped than 147 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: the waves of the sea. And meanwhile, the Germans, as 148 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: the exact counter to how the British were feeling about 149 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: this situation, were completely emboldened by their victory at Mons 150 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: and elsewhere in the battles of the frontiers. So all 151 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: of that probably made the idea of their having been 152 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: some kind of supernatural and perhaps godly intervention quite appealing. 153 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: Day of sex Makina sounds pretty good in that situation. Yeah, 154 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: and we will talk a little more about that after 155 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: a brief word from a sponsor. So to return to 156 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: the story. In the months following the Battle of Months, 157 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: stories spread among the British troops at the front and 158 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: among the back at home in Britain that an angelic 159 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,559 Speaker 1: figure or maybe even an entire angelic army had covered 160 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: the British withdrawal at Moms and basically saved the day, 161 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: and some described a host of glowing heavenly archers. Others 162 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: talked of more of like a holy shield that kept 163 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: the Germans from advancing, or perhaps it was St. George 164 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: Patron Saint of the British fighting forces and an army 165 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: called up from the Battle of Agincoorps, which was the 166 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: decisive British victory in the Hundred Years War, which we 167 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: talked about briefly in our Partiers episode We did. So, 168 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: whatever the exact version, the story of the Angel was 169 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: really widespread and widely believed. Back home and among the troops. 170 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: People started to hold it up as evidence that God 171 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: was on the side of the Allies. Clergy used it 172 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: in their sermons, and it was printed and reprinted in 173 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: different publications as different sources picked it up. On the 174 00:09:55,160 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: home front, not believing in the Angel became sort of unpatriotic. Uh. 175 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: One account of the Angel was printed on July thirty one, 176 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, in the London Evening News, and this was 177 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,439 Speaker 1: reportedly told to Phillis Campbell, who was a volunteer nurse 178 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: working with the troops in France. Her source was Lancashire fusilier, 179 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,839 Speaker 1: who said, we all saw it first. There was a 180 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: sort of yellow mist like sort of rising before the 181 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: Germans as they came up to the top of the 182 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: hill come on like a solid wall they did, springing 183 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: out of the earth, just solid, no end to them. 184 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: I just gave up, no use fighting the whole German race, 185 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: thinks I it's all up with us. The next minute 186 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,839 Speaker 1: comes this funny cloud of light, and when it clears off, 187 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 1: there's a tall man with yellow hair in golden armor 188 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: on a white horse, holding his sword up and his 189 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: mouth open as if he was saying, come on, boys, 190 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: I'll put the kai bosh on the Devil's The minute 191 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: I saw it, I knew we were going to win it. 192 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: Fair bucked me up. As versions of the story floated around. 193 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: It featured ghostly Bowman and St. George and descriptions like 194 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: the one that we just read. One piece was printed 195 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: in the All Saints, which was a parish magazine from Bristol, 196 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,199 Speaker 1: and it really cemented the idea that it was angels. Specifically, 197 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,599 Speaker 1: this one sided a Miss Marvel, who was reportedly retelling 198 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: what she had heard from two of her friends. One 199 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: of these friends was not a religious man, and she 200 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,439 Speaker 1: said his entire perspective on life had been changed by 201 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: seeing the angels. In this version, the angels were protectors 202 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: that shielded the troops, not attackers attacking the Germans. The 203 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: printing of the All Saints that contained the story sold out, 204 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: and people clamored for more copies. Miss Marble's rendition of 205 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: the story was one that was picked up in one 206 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: form or another again and again. But both of these sources, 207 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:44,199 Speaker 1: and all of the many other purportedly firsthand in secondhand 208 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,319 Speaker 1: accounts that circulated about a supernatural event having taken place 209 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: at month have some problems. So. Nurse Campbell from the 210 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: first example was the daughter of a novelist and a 211 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: writer of ghost stories herself. She had had a collection 212 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: of ghost stories published under pseudonym before the war. In 213 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: her war writing, she also seems to have reprinted anything 214 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: anyone said to her, no matter how far fetched it was. 215 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: No matter how obviously false it was without fact checking 216 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: or really considering what was said. And Miss Marrable from 217 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: the second version that we just talked about was a 218 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: real person. But when the Society of Psychical Research tried 219 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: to investigate her story and get her to name her sources, 220 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: she started backtracking a little bit. She said they weren't 221 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,079 Speaker 1: really men that she knew that she had in fact 222 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: no idea who they had been. And even as her 223 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: story fell apart and things that were crucial to its 224 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: believability were disproved, people kept accepting the story as fact. 225 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: Papers and pamphlets that picked up her story later on 226 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: just omitted her name, sort of to get rid of 227 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: that whole credibility issue. Yeah, and these are just really 228 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: two examples. There were lots and lots of different versions 229 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: of the story with different people being cited as their sources. 230 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: A lot of them have the similarly murky anonymity in 231 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 1: who people were actually hearing the story from, or their 232 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 1: dates are kind of fuzzy um, or you know, it's 233 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: it seems kind of like an urban legend, third and 234 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: fourth hand. Yeah, but there are so many of them, 235 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: and they were spread so widely and believed so fully 236 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: that it's tempting to say that surely that must have 237 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: been based in some kind of grain of truth of 238 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: what happened at the battlefield at Moms. Except there is 239 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: a little problem, right, which is that they all seemed 240 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: to draw from a very short story which is called 241 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: The Bowman. And this was published in the London Evening 242 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: News on September twenty nine of nineteen fourteen, the absolute 243 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: earliest reference in writing to a supernatural event at Mams. 244 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: We're gonna kind of talk about some theories for how 245 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: this a story became repurposed as fact after another quick 246 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: break that sounds grand. Arthur Machen was a British fantasy 247 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: author who was making his ends meet by writing for newspapers. 248 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: His short story The Bowman was printed a little over 249 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: a month after the Battle of Moms, and it's the 250 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,839 Speaker 1: story of a soldier at an unspecified battle on the front. 251 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: But this battle takes place in the story on a 252 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: salient as the Bottle of Mons did, and in the 253 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: face of an overwhelming advance from the Germans. The character 254 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: in this story remembers a prayer to St. George that 255 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: he saw on a plate at a vegetarian restaurant back home, 256 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: and he says the prayer that he remembers from the plate, 257 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: and this supernatural form appears along with a host of archers. 258 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: I want this story to be rewritten in the modern 259 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: day by Chuck Polinic. It's just I'm saying. It just 260 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: seems right of his alley. Uh. The story goes as 261 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: the soldier heard these voices, he saw before him beyond 262 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: the trench, a long line of shapes with a shining 263 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: about them. They were like men who drew the bow, 264 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: and with another shout, their cloud of arrows flew, singing 265 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: and tingling through the air toward the German hosts. And 266 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: in the last line of the story, this is uh 267 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: St George and the Agincourt bowman who came to the rescue. 268 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: This story was not labeled as fiction, but it certainly 269 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: reads like fiction. But even so, people started to write 270 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: to match In in the newspaper to ask if it 271 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: was true. Spiritualist publications wanted to reprint the story as fact, 272 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: and they were trying to get the names of the sources. 273 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: Kind of reminds me of the probably probably overhyped War 274 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: of the World's That's exactly what I was thinking of two. Yeah, 275 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: So this story of the angels didn't spread like wildfar 276 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: right away. I mean, there was immediate interest, but it 277 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: was not immediately established as fact in people's minds. It 278 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,119 Speaker 1: took trench warfare to really do that. As a situation 279 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: in the Western Front turned into a stale mate and 280 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: the last of the trenches went down in November of 281 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, people's interest in The Bowman started to revive. 282 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: It was a story that really gave people hope. It 283 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: became more and more obvious to people that this was 284 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: going to be a really long, really deadly war, and 285 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: the idea that an angel had had come to help 286 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: became the sort of wartime urban legend. And the whole time, 287 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: as this story was being reprinted in various versions all 288 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: over newspapers, pamphlets, and books, Arthur Matchin insisted that he 289 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: was one the only source for this story and that 290 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: the story was in fact on fiction, and his demand 291 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: rose for patriotic and inspiring writings. He republished the story 292 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,760 Speaker 1: in a book called The Bowman in August of nineteen fifteen, 293 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: and he also wrote a new preface to the story 294 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: explaining that it was absolutely fictional. This book sold three 295 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: thousand copies in a single day, and it was eventually 296 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: translated into six languages, and this pop ularity kicked off 297 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: a big round of people trying to prove that the 298 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: story was, in spite of what he said, completely real. 299 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: One journalist named Harold Begbie even publicly argued that Matchin 300 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: must have had a telepathic impression from one of the 301 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: dying soldiers of the apparition that he had seen, and 302 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: that this telepathic moment must have inspired the story of 303 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: the Bowman. There's also some evidence that the British government 304 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,959 Speaker 1: tacitly approved of this story, or at least the effects 305 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: that it was having on people's morale and patriotism. So 306 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: some months after this uh short story was originally published, 307 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: letters from the front started to come home that made 308 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: reference to people having actually seen this ghost. And these 309 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: are stories that all made it through the censors who 310 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: were going through censoring soldier's letters. Um the British government 311 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: press censor also allowed it in the press, and there's 312 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: even some evidence that this wasn't simply tacit approval, that 313 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: the army and the government actually played an active part 314 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: in bolstering the story. Brigadier General John Charteris wrote either 315 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,320 Speaker 1: a journal entry or a letter to his wife. Sources 316 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: site this uh piece of writing both ways, and it 317 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: was dated September five, nineteen fourteen, weeks before the publication 318 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: of The Bowman, and it reads, quote the story of 319 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: the Angel of Marmls going strong through the second core 320 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: of how the Angel of the Lord on the traditional 321 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 1: white horse clad all in white with flaming sword, faced 322 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: the advancing Germans at Moms and forbade their further progress. 323 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: So on the surface, it seems like, well, this obviously 324 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: predates the short story that was published in the newspaper. However, 325 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: this little snippet is mixed in with descriptions of events 326 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:48,439 Speaker 1: that definitely happened much much later than The Bowman's publication. 327 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,679 Speaker 1: The copy of this piece of writing that survives today 328 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: is also from a collection of things that were compiled 329 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: and edited by his wife. But so there's not an 330 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:02,199 Speaker 1: original document that can be authenticated and uh and examined. 331 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 1: So she basically said, I got this letter dated this 332 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 1: or I found this piece of writing dated this date, 333 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: and it said this. So in addition to we're not 334 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: really sure how much editing his wife did. The Brigadier 335 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 1: General was the b e F Chief intelligence officer, and 336 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: the spread of information and disinformation was part of his job. 337 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: So it's entirely within the realm of possibility that he 338 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: fudged the date on this document on purpose to add 339 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: more authenticity to this story and to try to establish 340 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: a reference in print that predated the Bowman's original publication. 341 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: And we know that Charteris had this sort of maneuver 342 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: in him already. He put disinformation to use during the war. 343 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: He's the one that started the rumor of the German 344 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: corpse factory, where the Germans were purportedly boiling the bodies 345 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: of the dead down into animal feed or munitions. So 346 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: he was adept at sort of seeding stories and spreading 347 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: concepts that were patently false. Yeah, this story continued to 348 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: be told and re told and re embellished long after 349 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: World War One was over. In the thirties, newspapers in 350 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 1: London and New York printed this version of the story 351 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: that cited a German officer who claimed that the British 352 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: had projected an image of an angel onto large screams 353 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: to kind of deter the German advance, which that did 354 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: not happen. That definitely did not happen. It's a lot 355 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: of tech to work up in the battle on the 356 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: fly and then Tupac showed up. It just seems like 357 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: so completely crazy to claim, But nowadays I think you 358 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,640 Speaker 1: could almost claim that and people would be like, maybe, 359 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:46,400 Speaker 1: but at this point they're not a really tall or not. Yeah. Uh. 360 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 1: No source that predates much in story has ever been verified, 361 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: And in the end, it really seems to have drawn 362 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: from a combination of religious faith, hope, patriotism, a tradition 363 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: of British folklore. You know, stories of St. George coming 364 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: to the aid of troops go all the way back 365 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: to the First Crusade. So it really seems like, uh, match, 366 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: a short story got picked up and then folded back 367 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: around in people's minds as a real event that had happened. Well, 368 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: it filled the psychological need of the entire country absolutely 369 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: World War One, especially as as people who had thought 370 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: that it was going to be a fast war that 371 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: would be over quickly when it became clear that it 372 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: was going to be long, slow, bloody trench warfare experience 373 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,439 Speaker 1: that like that, there was definitely a huge need for 374 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: people to have something positive to believe in. Yeah, it's 375 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: easy to see the appeal. I mean there's a need there. 376 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: Uh with that, I need you to read some listener. 377 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: May I think that's a good plan. Uh. This is 378 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: from Arthur, and Arthur says thank you for your episode 379 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 1: on the Treaty of White Tangy. As a Phican New Zealander, 380 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: I e Kiwi of European descent, I've always been proud 381 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,199 Speaker 1: that our country was formed by compromise rather than conquest, 382 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,920 Speaker 1: and the ongoing work of the Waitangi Tribunal has been 383 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: instrumental in attempting to heal some of the wounds of 384 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: our colonial history. I was disappointed that more time was 385 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: not given over to the land wars that followed the 386 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: signing of the treaty and the intensification of European settlement 387 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: in AUTAROA. Doubly so because New Zealand's history syllabus at 388 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,239 Speaker 1: school has traditionally forgotten about this crucial period in our 389 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,360 Speaker 1: nation's history, and rather has preferred to highlight the more 390 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: palatable aspects of the Treaty of Waitangi story. Between eighteen 391 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: forty five and eighteen seventy two, there were a series 392 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: of conflicts, rebellions and guerrilla wars waged between the British 393 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,959 Speaker 1: colonial administration and a number of Ewi or tribes of Maori. 394 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: The most intense fighting took place in the North Island 395 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: region of Taranaki in eighteen sixty and again when the 396 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: government invaded Taranaki in eighteen sixty three. The first Taranaki 397 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,120 Speaker 1: War in sixty eight sparked was sparked by a dispute 398 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,959 Speaker 1: over the legitimacy of a land sale of a two 399 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,479 Speaker 1: d forty hector block of land, and was instigated by 400 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: Governor Thomas Browne, who was eager to suppress anti settler 401 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: chiefs who belonged to the King Tanga or Maori King movement, 402 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: a confederation of tribes who opposed land sales and who 403 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: held to the Maori translation of the of the Treaty. 404 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: The first battle was between five hundred government troops comprised 405 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: of professional soldiers, local militia forces and volunteers, and eighty 406 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: Maori warriors led by Wery mukini Uh. I looked for 407 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: pronunciations of all of these words and names, and I 408 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: could not find audio pronunciations for all of them. So 409 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: I apologize if I say any of these wrong. The 410 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: Maori had constructed a temporary disposable fort or paw, in 411 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: a strategic position commanding road access to the disputed land. 412 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: Despite a full day of bombardment by two hundred how 413 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: it surrounds in small arms fire. The Maori suffered no 414 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 1: casualties and abandoned the pot that night. Having proved to 415 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: other Ewi in the area that the colonial forces were 416 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: the aggressors in the conflict, will Mukini was able to 417 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: call on other tribes for assistance, and the war expanded 418 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: to involve British and New Zealand troops and six d 419 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,880 Speaker 1: Maori fighters for the taranaki Ewie and the wider key 420 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,239 Speaker 1: Tani movement, which was based in Waikato but had to 421 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: influence throughout the country. The first battles that the tone 422 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: for the rest of the war, with the colonial force 423 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 1: seeking to besiege fixed fortifications and engaged the Maori in 424 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: a traditional war of set battles, while the Maori would 425 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: construct ingenius cheap paw from wood and flax, lined with 426 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: trench systems, shooting positions that allowed defenders to fire under 427 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: the forts, walls and artillery bunkers, all designed to withstand 428 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: artillery fire and musket shot for a short time and 429 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: then be abandoned, and this way the Maori were able 430 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: to resist the colonial forces for a year. In the 431 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: first stage in the war ended in something of a draw, 432 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: with the mau winning a symbolic victory by having refused 433 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,159 Speaker 1: to submit to British rule. However, this only led to 434 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: a brutal invasion of the Waikato and Taranaki regions. In 435 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three. Over fourteen thousand Imperial troops engaged in 436 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,719 Speaker 1: a six year campaign of land confiscation, forcing both rebel 437 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: and loyalist Maori from their lands and clearing the captured 438 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: territory for white settlement and an effort to punish and 439 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: dominate the Maori people. Roughly sixteen thousand square kilometers was taken, 440 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: or nearly six percent of New Zealand's total land mass, 441 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: and over a thousand Maori were killed and many more 442 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 1: forcibly relocated. In time, the Waitangi Tribunal would find that 443 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: this was an illegal war of aggression instigated by the 444 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 1: Crown and award the affected ewe a settlement package worth 445 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: over a hundred forty one million New Zealand dollars, a 446 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,400 Speaker 1: large sum, but considering that the confiscated land is worth. 447 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: They were two billion dollars today the Crown got off lightly. 448 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:57,119 Speaker 1: Race relations in New Zealand to day continue to be 449 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: strained by the events of our colonial past. Maori continue 450 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: you to grapple with the legacy of colonialism and suffer 451 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,600 Speaker 1: from poverty for health outcomes and a sort of lingering, 452 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 1: low grade racism that many white New Zealanders perpetuate almost unconsciously. 453 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: A popular strain of political rhetoric employed by our conservative 454 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: right wing politicians will periodically call for the Waitangi Tribunal 455 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: to be wound up and quote fair and final settlements 456 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: made to Maori eui, never mind that entire towns and 457 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: cities and thousands of acres of profitable farmland owned by 458 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: white New Zealanders only exist today because of the widespread 459 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:35,719 Speaker 1: land compensations confiscations perpetuated by their ancestors. The Ewi who 460 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: received tribunal settlements have mostly used these funds to invest 461 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: in businesses such as fisheries, forestry, and real estate, and 462 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: use the proceeds from these businesses to provide scholarships and 463 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: investment for mary economic growth and welfare. However, the ongoing 464 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: overrepresentation of Maori in poverty and crime statistics continues. I 465 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: hate to give to you like a picture of the 466 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 1: heritage of the Treaty of White Tangy was certainly a 467 00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: landmarket document, and I'm very proud that our country was 468 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: found it in a spirit of compromise. I often say 469 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,439 Speaker 1: that New Zealand doesn't have a constitution as much as 470 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: an ongoing argument, and certainly the legacy of that spirit 471 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,919 Speaker 1: of cooperation has had a profound impact on our history, 472 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 1: culture and national character. But it would be remiss to 473 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: neglect to mention the way the early colonial government broke 474 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: faith with the Maori and the ongoing impacts that this 475 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: history has today. Thanks again for an enjoyable and informative podcast. 476 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: You are sincerely Arthur who wrote to West from New Zealand. 477 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,399 Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Arthur. We've had one other listener 478 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 1: mail about the Treaty of White Heaney episode, and it 479 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: was actually kind of a difficult decision to figure out 480 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,439 Speaker 1: where to end that podcast, because we alluded to the 481 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: fact in the podcast that to try to talk about 482 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: what happened next, we would need to talk about the 483 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: entire history of New Zealand. That happens a lot. Well, 484 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:52,160 Speaker 1: you know, like we'll talk about the hundred years ore 485 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: and that's something that had reverberations for you know, centuries. Yeah, 486 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: and we'll also we also get a lot of really 487 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: well meaning letters from people who say, can you do 488 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: an episode on the history of a place like a nation? No, 489 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,959 Speaker 1: we cannot do an episode on the history of a nation. 490 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: I kind of what people do examine their perceptions of, 491 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: like who has a worthwhile history to talk about when 492 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,919 Speaker 1: they make request like that, Yeah, well, all history is 493 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 1: worthwhile to talk about, but you can't take a chunk 494 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: that big and really get no something worthwhile out of it. No, 495 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 1: it's too broad. We cannot gloss over the entire history 496 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 1: of a nation in one episode. And that that was 497 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: sort of trying to figure out where to end the 498 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: Treaty of White Hanging episode With that, it's feeling like 499 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: we were like glossing over huge parts of things. Was 500 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: difficult because definitely to try to talk about the effects 501 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: that the treaty had, you would have to talk about many, many, many, many, 502 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: many other events that are all worth having their own 503 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: podcast on their own. So we trick about history. Everything 504 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: kind of affects things that them after it. Yeah so, 505 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: and in this case it was the thing that found 506 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 1: out a nation, so it definitely really affected things. Right, 507 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,640 Speaker 1: So thank you so much to Arthur and to the 508 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: other people who have written about other events um that 509 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: happened after this. They are all things that are definitely 510 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: like they could warrant their own episodes. And as the 511 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: world is very big, I cannot say when we will 512 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: get to return to New Zealand History, but there's so 513 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: much other stuff to talk about. It's certainly not for 514 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: lack of desire to do so. Uh. If you would 515 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: like to write to us with uh more New Zealand 516 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: history or some stuff about World War One or whatever 517 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: you would like, you can. We are at history podcasts 518 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: at how Stuffworks dot com. Our Facebook is Facebook dot 519 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: com slash missed in history, and our Twitter is missed 520 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: in History. Our tumbler is missed in History dot tumbler 521 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: dot com, or also on Pinterest at pinterest dot com 522 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: slash missed in History. If you'd like to learn a 523 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: little more about how some you know ideas that could 524 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: explain how the story of an angel became so entrenched 525 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: in the British consciousness, you income to our parent website, 526 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,480 Speaker 1: that's how stuff Works dot com. Put the word urban 527 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: Legends in the search bar and you will find how 528 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: Urban Legends Work. You can also come to our website 529 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: which is missed in History dot com to find show 530 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: notes and our crives of all the episodes and lots 531 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: of other fascinating stuff. So you can visit us at 532 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and missed in History dot 533 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 534 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com